Spilled milk: No injuries reported in tractor-trailer fire

Milk from this truck fire flowed into nearby ditches as cows in a pasture watched

Scott Muthersbaugh / Times-News

By Natalie Allison Janicello / Times-News

Published: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 06:05 PM.

HAW RIVER — A truck hauling gallons of milk erupted in flames on Interstate 40/85 Wednesday morning, closing all eastbound lanes but one for about 45 minutes.

The Haw River Fire Department responded to the call around 6:20 a.m., after the truck’s driver, who wasn’t injured, had pulled onto the shoulder when he realized the trailer was burning.

The driver, who was transporting milk for Continental Express Inc. out of Sidney, Ohio, pulled over between the exits at Jimmie Kerr and Trollingwood Hawfields roads, coincidentally next to a cow pasture. Puddles of spilled milk currently sit in a ditch along the interstate near the site where the truck burned.

Bill Maurer, safety director of Continental Express, said the company is unsure exactly what happened, but guessed that a brake chamber on the trailer locked up. Maurer said the trailer was fairly new, and the driver was delivering a load of milk from Ohio to a destination in the area, though he wasn’t sure the exact location.

“Unfortunately, he had just stopped and went to take off again and one of the brake chambers locked up,” Maurer said. “He noticed a glow and took out a fire extinguisher,” which ultimately wasn’t enough to keep the fire down.

Maurer said the driver also detached the trailer from the tractor, which is standard procedure to attempt to keep the tractor from burning as well.

Jamie Joseph, assistant chief of the Haw River Fire Department, said firefighters “knocked the fire down” by 6:35 a.m., but not without some of the crew getting covered in milk that leaked from the melted cartons.

“Several of the firefighters had milk on them,” Joseph said, admitting that it was the first time that had happened.

Joseph said workers from Incident Management Assistant Patrols, part of the state’s Department of Transportation, responded to help with traffic control, in addition to N.C. Highway Patrol. All lanes but the far inside lane were closed, according to Trooper G.M. Dawkins.

Firefighters had to haul water from a hydrant on Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, Joseph said. The Mebane Fire Department also assisted with the fire.

Maurer said the company is working on a secure solution to move the truck off the interstate and to a local junkyard.

“It’s not an easy fix, and there’s not a lot of easy ways to get trailers off the side of the road if it can’t be pulled,” Maurer said.

HAW RIVER — A truck hauling gallons of milk erupted in flames on Interstate 40/85 Wednesday morning, closing all eastbound lanes but one for about 45 minutes.

The Haw River Fire Department responded to the call around 6:20 a.m., after the truck’s driver, who wasn’t injured, had pulled onto the shoulder when he realized the trailer was burning.

The driver, who was transporting milk for Continental Express Inc. out of Sidney, Ohio, pulled over between the exits at Jimmie Kerr and Trollingwood Hawfields roads, coincidentally next to a cow pasture. Puddles of spilled milk currently sit in a ditch along the interstate near the site where the truck burned.

Bill Maurer, safety director of Continental Express, said the company is unsure exactly what happened, but guessed that a brake chamber on the trailer locked up. Maurer said the trailer was fairly new, and the driver was delivering a load of milk from Ohio to a destination in the area, though he wasn’t sure the exact location.

“Unfortunately, he had just stopped and went to take off again and one of the brake chambers locked up,” Maurer said. “He noticed a glow and took out a fire extinguisher,” which ultimately wasn’t enough to keep the fire down.

Maurer said the driver also detached the trailer from the tractor, which is standard procedure to attempt to keep the tractor from burning as well.

Jamie Joseph, assistant chief of the Haw River Fire Department, said firefighters “knocked the fire down” by 6:35 a.m., but not without some of the crew getting covered in milk that leaked from the melted cartons.

“Several of the firefighters had milk on them,” Joseph said, admitting that it was the first time that had happened.

Joseph said workers from Incident Management Assistant Patrols, part of the state’s Department of Transportation, responded to help with traffic control, in addition to N.C. Highway Patrol. All lanes but the far inside lane were closed, according to Trooper G.M. Dawkins.

Firefighters had to haul water from a hydrant on Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, Joseph said. The Mebane Fire Department also assisted with the fire.

Maurer said the company is working on a secure solution to move the truck off the interstate and to a local junkyard.

“It’s not an easy fix, and there’s not a lot of easy ways to get trailers off the side of the road if it can’t be pulled,” Maurer said.